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Monday, March 14, 2016

"From where you are now, do you know where north is? Do you know from which direction prevailing winds originate? Do you know which spring wildflower is consistently among the first to bloom here? Where the boundaries of your regional watershed are? Where does your garbage go? If you don't know the answers to most of these questions, then maybe it's time to find out to increase your ecological literacy" (How ecologically literate are you?)

Ecological literacy, or eco-literacy, is a term first used by American educator David W. Orr and physicist Fritjof Capra in the 1990s, in order to introduce into educational practice the value and well-being of the Earth and its ecosystems.

It is a way of thinking about the world in terms of its interdependent natural and human systems, including a consideration of the consequences of human actions and interactions within the natural context.

Interesting article from Draft Global Issues Pilot August 2011, in which you will discover the principles of eco-literacy and the meaning of not just learning indoors, but regarding nature and our native places as rich sources for learning and seeing the bigger picture within which we dwell.

Tuesday, March 01, 2016

Slow schools and slow education can refer to different
aspects of education. Some people use
the term slow schools to refer to schools that are attempting to bring slow
food to the cafeteria or dining room.
Schools are not happy places.

For others it has
far more implications and includes aspects of connection to knowledge,
tradition, moral purpose and all that is important in life. In this sense it refers to the curriculum,
the way it is delivered, the process of learning, management of the school, and
even if school is the best vehicle through which to educate our children. So in
this sense, it refers to bringing the slow movement into education.

Where has the education system in schools gone wrong? It started with
taking the responsibility for education away from parents and families and
making it compulsory for children to go to school. While schools were accountable to the parents
and community the education process had some chance of meeting students and
community needs. But where governments
have acquired central authority over education, education seems to have become
a matter of outcomes – standardised test results.

LEARN NC

In many Western countries that have Anglo-Saxon origins,
governments and schools have rigid control structures in place and schools are
driven by standardised curricula with tests and targets to ensure uniform
outcomes. The emphasis is on the outcome not on the process. The process is about things like how are
ideas conceptualised, how can we support learning and the knowing of how to
learn, as well as the love of learning and investigating?

Slow education is also about connection to knowledge and to learning –
real learning. It is about leading a skilful life – doing no harm – and having
respect for all living and non-living things. Slow education is a concept of
'ecological literacy'. Michael Stone and Zenobia Barlow have put together a
collection of authors in Ecological Literacy:
Educating our Children for a Sustainable World (The Bioneers Series) to
give us ways to reorient the way we live on Earth and the way we can educate
our children to their highest capacities. This book is aimed at parents and
educators who are engaged in creative efforts to develop new curricula and
improve children's ecological understanding.

Slow education is about supporting our children to develop values and
ethics that will enable them to live a joyous life in the slow lane.

The similarities of debate about Fast Food vs Slow Food and the debate
about Fast Schools vs Slow Schools are self-evident upon reflection. Fast
schools like fast food are not concerned with the process, preparation and
connection. They are concerned with the standardised end product which in the
case of schools is the results from standardised tests and targets, and in the
case of food is the standardised hamburger or fried chicken etc, that look like
all others the outlet churns out.

The process of education is not about supplying students with lumps of
information to be regurgitated on demand. It is about enabling students to learn
how to learn. It is also about giving them opportunities to hear what others
have learnt (knowledge) and to then discuss, argue, and reflect on this
knowledge to gain a greater understanding of its truth for them and of how this
knowledge will be of use to them.

Slow Schools as part of the Slow Food movement are able to build edible
schoolyards. Students are involved in all aspects of planting, tending and
harvesting. Then in the classroom they prepare, serve and eat organic food,
much of which they have helped to grow.

All these activities of food production, preparation and consumption
(and disposal of waste) can be built into the curriculum, so that students
learn through real life experiences. Incorporating slow food principles, values
and practices into school curricula will help return us to a domestic food
culture where people grow up learning how to grow, prepare and cook nutritious,
delicious and traditional food.

Schools can go beyond slow food and incorporate other real life
experiences as a way of educating students in the important (and sometimes the
not so important) things in life. Maurice Holt is well known for his forward
thinking approach to education. In It's Time to
Start the Slow School Movement, an article By Maurice Holt[1]
he advocates a backlash against the 'hamburger' approach to education. He
believes that education is essentially about equipping children with the
ability to act responsibly in a complex society.

This approach that uses experiential, value-oriented practices with
participation at its core is not new nor is it the exclusive domain of slow
schools. The most well-known schools following this approach are Montessori and Waldorf and they have been doing it for a long time. Most home
schooling systems also use this approach.
It is an approach that is interlaced with moral living values and
stewardship ethics.